Book review: Sexual victimization: Then and now
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| Author | Alison Paradis |
| Published date | 01 May 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758015571475 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews
Tara N Richards and Catherine D Marcum (eds)
Sexual victimization: Then and now
Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2014, pbk, ISBN 9781483308173, xv þ249 pp.
Reviewed by: Alison Paradis, Universite
´du Que
´bec a
`Montre
´al, Canada
Sexual victimization remains a social, criminal and public health problem of endemic proportions.
Given the high prevalence of sex-related crimes and the associated consequences, it is important
for academics and practitioners to improve their comprehensive understanding of this complex
and multifaceted social issue. In Sexual Victimization: Then and Now, editors Tara N Richards
and Catherine D Marcum have put together a wide-ranging and up-to-date book which aims at
examining ‘the continuum of sex crimes and the perception of victims by [the American] criminal
justice system and society as a whole.’ The book is organized into 12 chapters, mostly written by
authors from the criminal justice academic field, and includes key topics such as sexual harass-
ment, sexual violence between intimate partners, and college sexual victimization.
This book is extremely thorough.Although it can be repetitive at times, it covers important issues
in a way that makes it accessible to a wide audience. Each chapter ends with a brief summary of its
content and includes discussion questions, adding to its usefulness in a classroom setting. The first
chapters in the book attempt to present the legal definitions of rape and sexualassault, give a general
overview of the evolution of sexual victimization legislation, and describe how victims are handled
by the criminal justice system in the United States. Other chapters address a wide variety of topics
such as stranger harassment, sexual violence in the military, child sexual abuse, and prostitution.
Each chapter includesa discussion of the criminal justice system’s responses. The book also covers
several other less-researched areas such as online sexual victimization, same-sex sexual violence,
elder sexual abu se, and an interesting chapter o n statutory rape and the notion o f consent. However,
no rationaleis given for why any of the specific themes fromthe book were selected in the first place.
As a whole, the book could be more cohesive, with a greater integration of each chapter.
Although the book offers a strong description of the challenging and evolving nature of sexual
victimization in the criminal justice system, it may leave certain readers wishing for a deeper
critical analysis of these issues. For example, in their chapter ‘Sexual Victimization on College
Campuses’, the authors mention how campus-based sexual assault prevention programmes rarely
work, but they omit to offer any possible reasons to explain this ‘questionable’ effectiveness. Con-
sequently, this book could have benefited to some extent from greater discussion and debate
regarding alternative solutions to current identified problems. On that note, it could have helped
to include further contributions from non-legal academics and practitioners who could offer new
ideas and insights on which to build.
International Review of Victimology
2015, Vol. 21(2) 247–252
ªThe Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0269758015571475
irv.sagepub.com
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